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31 Days to Green Clean: Vinegar and Dishsoap for Shower Cleaner & Laundry Stain Remover

October 15, 2012 By Emily McClements
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31 Days to Green Clean

This is Day 15 of the 31 Days to Green Clean series.

There are two cleaning jobs around the house that I struggled for a long time to find the best homemade and non-toxic solution for: laundry stain spray and shower cleaner/daily shower spray. But, then I found one recipe that works for both! I love that green and homemade cleaning is so multifunctional!

shower cleaner & laundry stain spray

Vinegar and Dish Soap

We’ve already talked about vinegar as a great multipurpose cleaner on it’s own. But, when you combine it with a natural dish washing soap, you get even more cleaning power!

The recipe:

  • Fill your spray bottle halfway with vinegar.
  • Add several squirts of natural dish soap (about 2-3 Tbsp. depending on the size of your bottle. Mine is 32 oz.)
  • Fill the bottle the rest of the way with warm water, and shake gently to combine.

Shower Cleaner/Daily Shower Spray

This cleaner works great as a Shower Cleaner and/or Daily Shower Spray. You can spray it on a few minutes before you jump in the shower and then wipe down the shower walls while you’re taking a shower. Multitasking at it finest!

Or, you can spray it around on your shower walls after your finished with your shower each day as a daily shower spray. Or both!

The dish soap helps to remove soap buildup and dirt, while the vinegar disinfects, removes odors, and fights mold and mildew. It’s the perfect combination for cleaning your shower, and keeping it that way!

*One note of caution: If you have a tiled shower, you may not want to use this as a daily shower spray. I’ve read different things about vinegar breaking down the grout between the tile, some reports say it does, some reports say it doesn’t.

My thought is that it would have to be a lot of vinegar (like full-strength) over a long period of time to actually break down the grout. We have a tiled shower, and I personally do use this vinegar solution to clean my shower, and I usually spray it down about once a week, and leave it like a daily shower spray, but I don’t use it everyday. You have to do what you’re most comfortable with.

Laundry Stain Remover Spray

Over the past two years I have fought a losing battle with my kids’ clothes to keep them stain free. My kids are really hard on their clothing, both while eating and playing.

I have tried many different things, and finally settled on this as about the best I can do for a homemade stain remover spray. The combination of the vinegar and dish soap helps to remove food stains, grease spots, and dirt pretty well.

It works the best if I can spray the stains before throwing the clothes in the hamper, and then spraying them again before putting them in the washing machine. The time sitting and pre-treating in the hamper seems to make a difference. But, if I don’t get the chance to do that, I still spray all my stains with this solution before throwing them in the wash.

It’s not perfect, and I do have some tough stains that still make it through the wash, and then I have to move on to trying another method, like homemade oxygen bleach. But for general stain removal, it works well, is easy to use, and is inexpensive to make.

The combination of vinegar and dish soap is also a great multipurpose cleaner to use around the house, and the dish soap helps to cover up the smell of the vinegar (if you use a scented dish soap). Remember not to use vinegar on marble or granite, but otherwise you could use this cleaner all around the house, if your prefer it over the castile soap and tea tree oil cleaner.

What is your go-to for naturally removing laundry stains?

Go here to read all the posts in the 31 Days to Green Clean series.

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23 CommentsFiled Under: 31 Days to Green Clean Tagged With: 31 days to green clean, cleaning, green living, home management, homemade

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Comments

  1. Judy J. says

    October 15, 2012 at 1:45 pm

    A Fels-Naptha soap bar, dampened and rubbed into a stain works pretty well.

    Reply
  2. Anjanette says

    October 15, 2012 at 1:54 pm

    Can’t wait to try this!

    Reply
    • Emily @ Live Renewed says

      October 17, 2012 at 10:07 pm

      I hope you like it Anjanette!

      Reply
  3. Jane says

    October 15, 2012 at 2:39 pm

    Thank you so much for this post! My husband is obsessed with the daily shower cleaner, and I have not been able to find anything to be a replacement for it! I will have to give this a try! Also for stains — I’ve tried vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and rubbing alcohol, but nothing really works! Can’t wait to give it a try! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Emily @ Live Renewed says

      October 17, 2012 at 10:08 pm

      Your welcome Jane! Hope they work well for you! Let me know if you have any questions!

      Reply
    • Jibbie says

      May 12, 2014 at 12:50 pm

      Get a bottle of “Awesome” at the Dollar Store. It works fantastic on stains, even old ones from clothes you find at a Thrift Shop.

      Reply
  4. Beth says

    April 25, 2014 at 8:26 am

    If you don’t like the smell of vinegar for cleaning, save your orange peels and soak them in vinegar for a couple weeks. Then remove peels and mix half and half with water. Smells great, and orange is good for cleaning too!

    Reply
  5. Jennifer says

    May 25, 2014 at 3:31 pm

    It also works well using dawn dish soap. I used it to get rid of pet stains on the carpet and it worked very well! I never though I was going to get rid of those stains!! 🙂

    Reply
  6. Natalie Sun says

    September 15, 2014 at 6:08 pm

    Thank you so much for your 31 Days to a Green Clean! I’ve tried a couple of your cleaners and they work well. However with the daily shower spray, did anyone mention that their vinegar reacts with the castile soap? Mine starts to curdle and makes weird soapy sludge in my bottle.

    Reply
  7. Devin Kenneth says

    June 23, 2016 at 7:15 am

    I am working for a tile cleaning firm. From my experience, I can say, that it is almost impossible to damage the grout with that low concentration of vinegar. Actually, it IS impossible. Most grouts have a protective layer on them in order to keep moisture away and prevent those nasty black spots. Even if you put only vinegar on them you will have to scrub very hard to damage that layer. Anyway, great post, keep it up 🙂

    Reply

Trackbacks

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  3. 31 Days to Green Clean: Introduction says:
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    January 30, 2013 at 12:16 pm

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  10. These are a few of my favorite things… (1/15) | Abbott House Adventures says:
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